"The origin was in that greatest of all curses, slavery; nothing
demoralizes so much. These boors had been brought up with the idea that
a Hottentot, a bushman, or a Caffre were but as the mere brutes of the
field, and they have treated them as such. They would be startled at
the idea of murdering a white man, but they will execute wholesale
slaughter among these poor natives, and think they have committed no
crime. But the ladies are coming up, and we shall be interrupted, so I
will not task your patience any more to-day. I shall therefore conclude
what I may term part the first of my little history of the Cape colony."




CHAPTER IV.


Alexander Wilmot was too much pleased with Mr. Swinton not to cultivate
his acquaintance, and they soon became very intimate. The conversation
often turned upon Mr. Swinton's favorite study, that of natural history.

"I confess myself wholly ignorant of the subject," observed Alexander
one day, "though I feel that it must be interesting to those who study
it; indeed, when I have walked through the museums, I have often wished
that I had some one near who could explain to me what I wished to know
and was puzzled about. But it appears to me that the study of natural
history is such an immense undertaking if you comprehend all its
branches. Let me see,--there is botany, mineralogy, and geology--these
are included, are they not?"